GOP Plans Fundraiser Retreat in New York

After Obama Team Bested Republicans in September, Romney Campaign Aims to Raise $100 Million From Early Donors

By

Sara Murray and

Danny Yadron

Updated Oct. 14, 2012 6:42 p.m. ET

Bested by the Obama campaign's fundraising efforts in September, Republicans are pushing to raise at least another $100 million this month by tapping a large number of donors who have sat on the sidelines since the primaries or have yet to max out their donations.

One of the last and most prominent fundraising events begins Monday in New York when the campaign's top donors are slated to gather at the Waldorf Astoria for a three-day retreat that includes a debate-watching party and strategy briefing with campaign staffers. In one session with Spencer Zwick, the campaign's finance chair, top fundraisers will gather to make calls for last-minute donations, one Romney donor said.

According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, heading into September about 70% of the 40,000 donors who gave Mr. Romney $2,500 during the primary—the legal maximum—hadn't yet donated any funds for the general election. By contrast, about three quarters of Mr. Obama's maxed-out primary donors had given again for the fall campaign.

While that could be seen as a sign of lukewarm support, it also makes it easier for Mr. Romney to raise funds quickly by asking his most loyal supporters from the primary campaignto write another check.

Ray Washburne, one of the campaign's top bundlers in Texas, said he's having success moving some longtime fence-sitters. "Before the debate, frankly, a lot of phones stopped ringing," he said. "Coming off of the debate success that Romney had, that built a lot of momentum. The next day the phones were really ringing."

A person with knowledge of the campaign's fundraising operation said Republicans' September total isn't expected to outpace the $181 million the Obama campaign and related Democratic parties raised last month. The data are scheduled to be released Oct. 20. Mr. Obama has so far directly out raised Mr. Romney, pulling in $742 million with his party through August compared with $638 million for Mr. Romney and the Republican National Committee.

To visualize the relationships among political contributions, The Wall Street Journal used social network software to map more than a million records of donor data tracked by the Federal Election Commission.

The RNC has more money in the bank than the Democratic National Committee, the product of Democrats spending more on the election and large checks written to Mr. Romney's joint fundraising effort. In an early October memo, Mr. Zwick noted that Democrats had $125 million on hand compared to $168.5 million for Republicans.

But that might not directly benefit Mr. Romney's campaign. Campaigns are guaranteed competitive pricing for TV ad buys, but party committees are not. Mr. Obama ran twice as many TV ads in some swing state markets last month as the GOP nominee, partly the result of an army of donors who have given repeatedly this election, according to a Journal analysis of campaign finance records.

Mr. Zwick said the distinction didn't matter that much. "Think about all the things the RNC can do with that money that ultimately benefits our campaign," he said, citing voter-turnout operations as an example. "We were able to raise more money for the global enterprise."

Looking to squeeze every last dollar, the Romney team is tapping its existing organization, which organized large donors by geography, industry and demographic groups. They set up finance groups for the trucking industry, community bankers, physicians, coal industry executives and the Jewish community, among others.

State finance operatives will play a critical role. They've committed to fundraising goals based on their ability to tap big donors and call in weekly to report how much they've raised for the week and how much they're committed to raising the following week. Texas, for instance, is expected to outpace its goal of $40 million. In Arizona, the target is $8 to $10 million.The day after the vice-presidential debate, anyone who had donated $2,500 to the Romney effort was invited to join a conference call with Rep. Paul Ryan—where they were promptly asked for another $2,500. Hundreds made an additional donation.

With Mr. Romney's schedule increasingly dominated by campaign rallies and debate prep, Mr. Ryan has taken up the mantle. A fundraiser in Minnesota Saturday drew a handful of first-time donors who gave $50,000 after seeing Mr. Ryan's debate. The event yielded $1 million, said Scott Honour, a fundraiser for the Romney campaign in the state.

The New York fundraising retreat builds on the Romney campaign's mantra that donors are more likely to give—and implore their friends to do the same—if they feel like they're part of the campaign operation.

Senior campaign advisers including Beth Myers and Ed Gillespie will hold a strategy briefing Tuesday, including a polling update from campaign pollster Neil Newhouse and a ground-game rundown with political director Rich Beeson.

The night before, guests will attend a gala at the Intrepid, a World War II aircraft carrier and history museum, along with Mr. Ryan and real-estate mogul Donald Trump.

"It's do or die time," said Brian Ballard, one of the Romney campaign's finance co-chairs in Florida.

Despite falling behind the Obama campaign, Mr. Romney is on track to outdo previous Republican presidential nominees, in part because he is the first Republican to reject public financing for the fall campaign, as Mr. Obama did in 2008 and this year. By the end of the last election, Sen. John McCain and the RNC combined took in $813 million. In 2004, Mr. Bush and the party took in $759.6 million.

Although Mr. Obama's campaign has mined Hollywood and other industries for large checks, the president has placed a greater focus on small donors, as he did in 2008. At the end of August, donors who gave less than $200 accounted for 37% of Mr. Obama's haul, compared with 18% of Mr. Romney's. Small donors are important in the final stretch as Democrats continue online fundraising while ending large-dollar fundraising events.

Mr. Obama held his last fundraiser in Miami last week after a California finance swing. His campaign doesn't expect new big donors to emerge.

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